Having read various articles on the subject, there is plenty of evidence to suggest that adventure education can hold many benefits for participants and it would seem that those who partake in outdoor programs can instigate a cycle of personal growth, one outcome being increased self-esteem (Neill & Richards, 1998).
In simple terms, self-esteem has been described as having confidence in considering and dealing with the challenges that life can bring. However, definitions have also gone deeper and described it as being a person’s confidence in their right to be content, having a feeling of worthiness with respect to self and society, being entitled to reach their goals in terms of needs and desires and also to be allowed to enjoy the benefits of their success and hard work (Branden, 1991).
Beard & Wilson (2006) stated that social interactions of a person were vital in the development of thought, ability to learn and the concept of self. One way in which these social interactions could be improved is via the medium of experiential learning in adventure education.
The idea that adventure education and the concept of self-esteem are related has been studied for many years. Kolb (1988) stated that an adventure based program can help to increase overall self-esteem, a person’s perception of his/herself and their popularity. Also, a study by Wick et al (1997) showed that self-esteem was increased after participants were involved in a six week adventure program. Wick et al (1997) showed that as a result of this adventure program classroom behaviour improved and the participants felt as though they had more friends. Carson et al (1993) studied the effects of an experience in outdoor education on the self-esteem of teenagers and concluded that it did in fact increase after the program.
Despite experiential learning within outdoor education being used all over the world to help people improve their interpersonal and intrapersonal skills (including self esteem), very little is known about why these programs are effective and indeed even if they are effective (Neill & Richards, 1997).
In contrast, some say that inappropriate matching of the level of physical or psychological risk and the level of the participant’s ability may actually produce negative outcomes with regards to self-esteem and other personal development (Kemp, 1997)
The charity that I work for has used outdoor activities to facilitate personal growth (including self-esteem) for over 20 years so I tell myself that it must work. My colleagues, some of whom have worked there for many years, tell me it works, but it always comes back to the same question… How can we measure it?
Beard, C & Wilson, J (2006) Experiential Learning: a best practice handbook for educators and trainers Kogan Page Publishers
Branden, N (1991) The power of self-esteem HCI Publications
Kemp, T (1997) Panacea or Poison? Building self-esteem through adventure experiences Presented at International Adventure Therapy Conference, Australia
Kolb, D (1988) Self-esteem change and mandatory experiential education Journal of experiential education 11 (3) 31-37
Neill, J & Richards, G (1997) Adventure Education and Outward Bound: Out-of-class experiences that make a lasting difference Review of Educational Research 67 (1) 43-87
Neill, J & Richards, G (1998) Does outdoor education really work? A summary of recent meta-analyses Australian Journal of Outdoor Education 3 (1) 3-9
Wick D, Wick J & Peterson N (1997) Improving Self-Esteem with Alderian Adventure Therapy Professional School
No comments:
Post a Comment